Website Updated as New Geographic Names Act Comes into Force
LINZ has updated its website to reflect the New Zealand Geographic Board (Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa) Act 2008, which redefines the jurisdiction and functions of the New Zealand Geographic Board Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa (NZGB).
The 2008 Act was passed in May this year and comes into force on 1 November 2008 by Order-in-Council. Note that sections 32 and 33, which require agencies to use official place names in official documents, have not yet come into force.
Visit the updated place names and street names section. The key changes are:
Making proposals
You can make a proposal to assign, approve, alter or discontinue a name for three areas of place naming:
- geographic features and places in New Zealand and offshore islands
- undersea feature names, and
- Antarctic feature names.
Two further areas of naming defined in the 2008 Act can only be proposed by the Department of Conservation or local authorities:
- Crown protected area names, such as parks and reserves
- district and region names.
Submissions & decisions
You can make a submission to support or object to name proposals within New Zealand territory. Name proposals outside New Zealand territory (for example in Antarctica) are not publicly notified and may not be consulted on.
The NZGB will continue to publish public notices of consultations and decisions on the website, as well as in the New Zealand Gazette and local newspapers. Check the A-Z of recent official name proposals and decisions for descriptions and locations, including maps.
Finding names
The New Zealand Geographic Board now publishes the New Zealand Gazetteer of Official Geographic Names (the Gazetteer), which lists only official names, a requirement of the 2008 Act.
The Gazetteer will eventually replace the New Zealand Geographic Place Names Database, which has been renamed as the New Zealand Place Names Database (archived). You can still search and download the database for official and unofficial names, but please note that it will no longer be updated from 30 October 2008.
Get help finding names.
Continental shelf
The NZGB will also now name undersea features within New Zealand’s continental shelf limits following last month's acceptance of New Zealand’s submission to the Continental Shelf Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) by the United Nations.
Te reo Māori versions of the new forms & fact sheets
All forms and fact sheets for making place naming proposals and submissions will be available soon in te reo Māori.
Interim standards
The NZGB will publish new standards and protocols for jurisdictional naming and processes. Interim standards will be available soon on the NZGB's naming rules, criteria, standards, guidelines and policies page.
1946 Act repealed
The 2008 Act replaces the New Zealand Geographic Board Act 1946 (repealed). Read a comparison between the two Acts and the 30 June 2008 media release on the new Act.
Feedback
We'd like to hear your comments and suggestions on using the website. Please contact the NZGB.
